Thursday, April 30, 2009

There's quite a lot going on under the hood at this blog, with frequent donations to some of the growing discographies. The Mongo Santamaria discography has just reached 52 albums!

Latest donation by reader Xerxes is this great 1964 latin album that you should check out. Grab it in the comments here, and be sure to click the link above to see the rest. Thanks again Xerxes!

Jason Ankeny, AMG : " Although Mongo Santamaria's move to Columbia later signified his transition to crossover fare, his label debut, El Bravo!, makes no concessions or overtures to the pop charts. Armed with a batch of original compositions spanning from boleros to mortunos and backed by a crack session band including trumpeter Marty Sheller and flutist Hubert Laws, Santamaria delivers one of the finest traditional Latin jazz records of the mid-'60s. The virtues of the set are many: Santamaria's conga rhythms are fiery yet tasteful, Sheller's luminous arrangements boast an authentic Cuban flavor, and all of the musicians receive ample opportunity to shine, in particular Laws (whose charanga-inspired flute galvanizes the superb 'Monica'. "

I had this album years ago. its hard to find but I think well worth it. My favorite two cuts on this album were: "El Bravo", and "Cinderella" they both have a cha cha cha/Son Montuno beat. Wish I could download the album